Proverbs 6:21

Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(21) Bind them continually upon thine heart.—See above on Proverbs 3:3.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

6:20-35 The word of God has something to say to us upon all occasions. Let not faithful reproofs ever make us uneasy. When we consider how much this sin abounds, how heinous adultery is in its own nature, of what evil consequence it is, and how certainly it destroys the spiritual life in the soul, we shall not wonder that the cautions against it are so often repeated. Let us notice the subjects of this chapter. Let us remember Him who willingly became our Surety, when we were strangers and enemies. And shall Christians, who have such prospects, motives, and examples, be slothful and careless? Shall we neglect what is pleasing to God, and what he will graciously reward? May we closely watch every sense by which poison can enter our minds or affections.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The thought of Proverbs 3:3 is carried step further. No outward charm, but the law of obedience, shall give safety to the traveler, when he sleeps or when he wakes.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

20-23. (Compare Pr 1:8; 3:3, &c.).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Bind them continually upon thine heart; constantly remember and duly consider them.

Tie them about thy neck: see on Proverbs 1:9 3:3.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Bind them continually upon thine heart,.... Not upon the head or arm, as the words of the law were to be bound, Deuteronomy 6:3; to which there seems to be an allusion; and which may confirm the sense of the words given, that this respects the law of God itself, and the precepts of it, instructed in by parents; but they should be bound upon the heart, and have an abiding place in the understanding, affections, memory, and will;

and tie them about thy neck; as an ornament, instead of a necklace of pearl, or chains of gold; they should be so far from being thought burdensome and troublesome, that they should be reckoned comely and graceful; see Proverbs 1:9.

Geneva Study Bible

Bind them continually upon thine {i} heart, and tie them about thy neck.

(i) Pr 3:3.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

21. heart … neck] See Proverbs 3:3, note. Perhaps there is also the idea of an amulet or charm tied round the neck. See next verse.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 21. - This verse recalls also Proverbs 3:3, and reminds us of the use of the phylacteries, or tefellim, common among the Jews of our Lord's time, and the practice of binding which upon various parts of the person may have had its origin in this and such like passages. The "tying about" the neck may suggest the use of amulets, an Oriental custom, to ward off evil, but it is more likely that it refers to the wearing of ornaments. Them; i.e. the commandment and law of father and mother respectively, expressed in the Hebrew by the suffix -em, in the verb kosh'rem, equivalent to liga ea, and again in ondem, equivalent to vinci ea. (For the personal use of this figure, see Song of Solomon 8:6.) Tie them; Hebrew, ondem. The verb anad, "to tie," only occurs twice as a verb - here and in Job 31:36. Lee prefers "to bind;" Delitzsch, however, states that it is equivalent to the Latin circumplicare, "to wind about." The meaning of this and similar passages (cf. Proverbs 7:3; Exodus 13:9; Deuteronomy 6:8; Deuteronomy 11:13) is that the commandment, precept, law, or whatever is intended, should be always present to the mind. The heart suggests that they are to be linked to the affections, and the neck that they will be an ornament decking the moral character. Proverbs 6:21

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

After these three smaller sections, the teacher of wisdom returns here to the theme of the eighth: Warning against sins of the flesh, whose power and prevalence among men is so immeasurably great, that their terrible consequences cannot sufficiently be held up before them, particularly before youth.

20 Keep, my son, the commandment of thy father,

     And reject not the instruction of thy mother.

21 Bind them to thy heart evermore,

     Fasten them about thy neck.

The suff. -ēm refers to the good doctrine (cf. Proverbs 7:3) pointed out by מצוה and תּורה; the masc. stands, as is usual (e.g., Proverbs 1:16; Proverbs 5:2), instead of the fem. Regarding the figure, reminding us of the Tefillin and of Amuletes for perpetual representation, vid., under Proverbs 3:3. Similarly of persons, Sol 8:6. The verb ענד (only here and Job 31:36) signifies to bend, particularly to bend aside (Arab. 'ind, bending off, going aside; accus. as adv., aside, apud), and to bend up, to wind about, circumplicare.